Discussion COMM200 Section
Week 15
Young Ji Kimannenberg.usc.edu
Organizing Theory Weick
Stresses information and communication Assumption: Information reduces uncertainty Suggests the two ways of reducing uncertainty 1) Rules & 2) DOUBLE Interact Act 1: An assignment is given Act 2: Response to the assignment Act 3: Response to the response
Interact Interact
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Organizing Theory Weick
Q: How is his idea of "double interact" an improvement in organizational communication? Act 1: Focused by authoritarian view (e.g.,
sending orders downward communication)
Act 2: Focused by human relations view (e.g.,
feedback upward communication)
Act 3: Weick's contribution! (e.g., response to the feedback)
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Ch 9 Mediated Communication
Mediated communication? Mass Communication vs Mediated Communication?
Examples of mediated communication that is not mass communication?
Mass Comm: Mediated communication between a source and a large audience that is often unknown by the annenberg.usc.edu source
Theories!
Media Effects Theory Uses and Gratifications Theory (Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch) Agenda-Setting Theory (McCombs & Shaw) Cultivation Theory (Gerbner) Computer-mediated Communication Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel) Social Identity Model of Deindividualization Effects (Lea & Spears) Social Information Processing and Hyperpersonal Model (Walther)
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A Brief History of Media Effects Theory
Mass Media
1930s and 40s
Media messages have strong, immediate, and uniform effects on audience's behavior
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A Brief History of Media Effects Theory
Mass Media
1930s and 40s
No, people respond differently Different motivation, goals of media use Uses & Gratification Theory
Media messages have strong, immediate, and uniform effects on audience's behavior Not on Behavior; but on Cognition
What to think about? What is important? Not immediate; But long-term
Cultivate people's (mis)perception Cultivation Theory
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Agenda-Setting Theory
Uses & Gratification Theory Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch Assumptions "Media effects are NOT uniform!!" Active Audience
People do not passively respond to media messages
Selective Exposure
Depending on their own purposes and motivations, people selectively expose, remember, and retrieve media messages
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Uses & Gratification Theory Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch Research Questions: Why people watch TV, listen to radio, and/or read newspaper? Why people play video games, do Facebook, Twitter, texting, IM, and so on?
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Uses & Gratification Theory Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch Findings: Four Major Reasons Entertainment: "because it's fun" Information: "because I'm curious about what's going on" Personal Identity (Value reinforcement or reassurance; self-understanding): "I watch FOX news, because it supports my own view." Personal Relationships and Social Interaction: "because I want to watch with others, and discuss with others"
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Agenda-Setting Theory McCombs & Shaw The Role/function of Journalism "News media reflect public opinion?"
"News media determine public opinion" "New media SET the AGENDA!" (McCombs & Shaw)
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Agenda-Setting Theory McCombs & Shaw An example: the 1992 Presidential Election
50 %
50 %
Economic Crisis!!
Right, economy is important But Bush is not good at handling economic problems
We'd better vote for Clinton
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Agenda-Setting Theory McCombs & Shaw An example: the 1992 Presidential Election
60 %
50 %
Economic Crisis!!
Right, economy is important But Bush is not good at handling economic problems
We'd better vote for Clinton
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Cultivation Theory Gerbner Assumptions People's perception of the world is cultivated by media, TV Media may not have direct, immediate effects on people's behavior/attitude. But media have long-term, cumulative effects on people's perception
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Cultivation Theory Gerbner At first, the researchers attempted to assess the TV violence and its effects Later, they found the significant discrepancy
TV reality
"Real" reality
On TV most criminals are racial minorities The good people (cops, doctors, lawyers) are mostly Whites However, there is not much significant difference in reality
Heavy viewers will unconsciously develop misperception of minorities: "Cultivation Effects"
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Cultivation Theory Gerbner Mean World Syndrome
Crimes on TV are more frequent and serious (e.g., CSI) than in the real world Heavy viewers tend to perceive the real world as a dangerous place.
How dangerous do you think Downtown LA is during night times? Very
dangerous
Real danger
Light Viewer
Heavy Viewer
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Cultivation Theory Gerbner Mainstreaming level (societal effects) The repetitive pattern of television's messages and images forms the mainstream of a common symbolic environment e.g., Body image (heavy viewers tend to think many people are thin)
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Cultivation Theory Gerbner
Among light viewers, there is a great disparity between men and women with regard to how much they support women's rights. Females show very high support and males show very low support. On the other hand, among heavy TV viewers, this difference is very small between women and men, meaning that their view about women's rights are very similar mainstreaming! annenberg.usc.edu
Mainstreaming
Cultivation Theory Gerbner Resonance (individual level effects) When an individual has a similar experience, the cultivation effects becomes more significant e.g., Those who live in a dangerous neighborhood are more susceptible to cultivation effects of TV violence (that is, they think that the world is dangerous more than those who don't live in a dangerous neighborhood)
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Cultivation Theory Gerbner
TV viewing increases perceived crime rate (the positive line both for poor neighborhood residents and wealthy neighborhood residents). However, for poor neighborhood residents, this TV effect is even greater because their own experience of being victimized resonates with crimes in TV, which reinforces their perception that crimes are frequently occurring.
Cultivation effects for dangerous neighborhoo d residents Cultivation effects for safe neighborhoo d residents
Resonance
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Media Richness Theory Daft & Lengel Media Richness:
Information-carrying capacity of the medium How much information can be delivered through a medium?
Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
Speed of Feedback
Media Richnes s
Personalizability Availability of Multiple Cues Language Variety
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Message ambiguity and media choice Ambiguity refers to possibility of multiple interpretations The more ambiguous the message, the ( ) the medium may be appropriate Example
"Failure to cite sources properly will be counted as plagiarism" Ambiguous? Then which medium is the most effective?
Communication is the most effective when there is a match between message ambiguity and media richness.
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Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) Any communicative transaction that occurs through the use of two or more networked computers Email, Online Chatting, Message boards, Social media(e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Text messages
Feedback Loop Source Message Channel Receiver
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Old Internet
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Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) FtF is superior to CMC? Old theories Yes, because
Lack of non-verbal cues Impersonal
e.g., Media Richness Theory
Contemporary theories Not necessarily People adapt to the lack of non-verbal cues They are just different!
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Social Identity Model of Deindividualization Effects (SIDE) Lea & Spears The visual anonymity of CMC may disguise characteristics of senders that individually differentiate them The lack of individuating information in CMC more attention given to social identity Fewer SIDE effects if you have photos of your communication partners This theory is too out-dated; 1991 These days, privacy issues, identity theft...
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Social Information Processing, SIP & Hyperpersonal Model, HM Walther SIP: how people use verbal cues in CMC to compensate for the lack of nonverbal cues HM: how lack of nonverbal cues in CMC can lead to an increased level of intimacy and lead to hyperpositive or hypernegative evaluations of CMC partners
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Social Information Processing, SIP & Hyperpersonal Model, HM Walther Due to lack of non-verbal cues, people use verbal cues to manage their self-images
Text substitutes can be used for nonverbal cues
Punctuation (e.g., !!!!!, parentheses) Social words (e.g., haha) Abbreviations (e.g., lol, rofl) Emoticons (e.g., :), :( )
Not only do people use cues, people try to find cues.
Time lags (not immediately) Individual patterns
CMC is just as capable as FTF of sharing impressions and building relationships
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Social Information Processing, SIP & Hyperpersonal Model, HM Walther Selective Self-Presentation
Users can strategically develop self-presentation over time. Users can edit themselves. Users can present themselves how they want others to see them. Users can create more intentional messages and avoid unintentional cues.
Hyperpersonal Communication
Receivers begin to idealize their partners because of the positive self-presentation. Receivers reinforce the positive perception, attending to positive cues
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Social Information Processing, SIP & Hyperpersonal Model, HM Walther
Too much self-disclosure Hypernegative reaction (recall Gilbert!!)
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